Korean Wedding

I've already mentioned about some reasons behind Korean blind dates, Sogaeting. Now I'm going to introduce you to the next step: marriage!

I personally have never attended a Korean wedding, but I'll tell you some facts based on a book called „Sleepless in Seoul“ by Vera Hohleiter. Before I start, I tell you that I don't think all of the facts written below apply to all Korean weddings. I'm sure some people do it different way.

The most of Korean people marry in huge halls, decorated with flowers. In such halls you can invite a huge amount of guests: hundreds of them. Civil wedding or church wedding is possible, but it's not that common.

Like mentioned before, there are hundreds of guests, sometimes even more than a thousand. Everyone, who knows about the wedding and wants to bless the couple, can come. Of course, the couple also want them to come.

Homeless people used to go to wedding events because there they could get food for free. Today weddings in Korea can be considered as.. 'business'. A wedding with hundreds of guests costs between 25,000 and 50,000 USD.

In Korea it's not common to give household items or furnishings as presents. Usually people give money in an envelope in en entrance of the wedding hall. Mostly the guests give 50,000 Won, which is about 40 USD. Probably students give a bit less and wealthy guests a bit more.

A relative of the bridal pair counts and manages the money and write the exact amount of all guests down. So if you give a certain amount of money to the bridal pair, most probably you'll get the same amount of it from them on your own wedding. In Korean weddings it's almost all about 'give and take'. More guests means more money.

Probably some of you know such tradition too from your own culture in your country. As for me as an Indonesian, many people there celebrate their weddings in huge halls too, with lots of guests and you also can give money to the bridal couple. But I don't think we consider it as 'business'. Seriously, writing the exact amount of money of each guest is a bit too much, don't you think?

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Who wants to go at 63 Building?

We heard a lot of 63 Building in some Korean variety shows. Do you remember 2pm Nickhun and F(x) Victoria met at 63 Building for their first episode of a show called We Got Married? We saw the rooftop of 63 Building. I wonder what inside the building? Why is it so famous around South Korea? I did some research about 63 Building and I found out a lot of interesting facts about the building.

63 Building also known as Yuksam Building is a landmark skyscraper on Yeoido Island. 63 Building is 249m or 817 ft tall and it was acknowledge as the world's tallest building outside North America. It is served as South Korea's tallest building until Hyperion tower was build last 2003. 63 Building is an iconic landmark of Miracle on the Han River, it symbolized the nation's rapid economic achievement in the late 20th century.

63 Building has 63 official floors and 60 of them are above ground level while the other 3 are the basement floors.

The 60th floor has the world's tallest Art gallery and it has an observation deck called 63 Golden Tower. If you go there you can see Incheon if the sky is clear and at night you can watch fireworks there.

At the 59th floor there's a First-class Restaurant called Walking in the Cloud.

At the 58th floor there's a Family Restaurant called Touch the Sky.

There's a total of 6 elevators in the building and one of them is specially made for couples only. It is called Love Elevator. The couples who will ride this special elevator will get an exclusive 1 minute ride. There's another elevator where you can see the outside while riding it.

The lower floors has a shopping mall with approximately 90 stores. It has IMAX theater and a large Aquarium. Last year July 5, 2009, they opened a Wax Doll Museum which features real statues of famous people around the world.

63 Building was built at a cost of 180,000,000,000 won and completed construction on May 1985. In 2000, Hanwha Group renamed the building to 63 City and it became part of the group in 2002.

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Here's some photos of 63 Building

 This next photo is at sunrise the 63 Building begins to glow

 

For 20 minutes at sunrise, the eastern side of the building is blindingly bright.

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I found it very interesting. Before I do some research about 63 Building, I really want to go there. Now I know a lot of things about the building, it makes me want to go there more. I found the restaurant names very interesting. What catches my attention more is the Love Elevator and the Large Aquarium. I also found it very amazing on how the building shine so brightly during the sunrise. When I go to S. Korea I will definitely go to 63 Building. I want to personally see how the building shine so bright and I would like to ride the Love Elevator.

Even though I haven't been there, this is one of my RECOMMENDED place to visit in Korea.

What do you feel after knowing all this facts about 63 Building?

Cr: wikipedia

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Let's Learn Korean: Lesson 11

 

Hello everyone! How have you all been? I would like to say sorry for not posting lately. This past few weeks is been a very busy weeks for me. Anyways since I'm back, I'm going to teach you another lesson. Actually this lesson is not new. In lesson 3, I taught you how to count. As you all remembered, there's two way of counting in Korean and that is Native counting and a Chinese derive counting. I taught you how to count in Chinese derive in Lesson 3 and I only taught you 1-10 for the Native Korean counting. In this lesson, I will tell you the Native Korean counting.

As you have seen in lesson 10, I started to show you my new way of teaching new Korean words, and that is by making it as a picture, so it's easier for all of you to read(?). The picture below is the Native Korean Counting.

I apologized for the blurriness of the pictures.

I have another set of table for more information for counting or stating some facts.

Remember!

• the pattern that you learned in Chinese system is the same for native Korean.
• When your counting referring on money just add 원 (weon) [won].
• 원 (weon) [won] is what Koreans called their money.

I hope this lesson helps you. More lessons to come asap.
If you have a questions, DO NOT HESITATE to ask me anytime on my Facebook. I will answer you as soon as I can.

Thanks for all you patience! Hope you're having fun Learning Korean.

You can go back to my old lessons, Click here.
You can also check a video that teach Korean, Go here.

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Let's Learn Korean: Lesson 10

여러분 안녕하세요! Hello everyone! How are you guys? I am here again to teach you some Korean words. This lessons might be an easy one for you because the topic for today is about  

"Family" "가족" (ga-jog). 

Some of you might already know and even using it already. A lot of you might know what is Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, and Grandparents in Korean. How about the other Family members or what you called it "Relatives"? 

The picture below is the one I made so it is easier to read.

 I hope you enjoy this topic.

 

If you have any questions you can ask me through face book.

 

My facebook

 

Enjoy and thanks! 

감사함니다!

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[video] let's speak korean

Hi my dear how should I say it, readers/students! Since I am busy until the first week of July, I can't post new lessons. Since I can't personally post some new lessons, I found this Korean program where they teach you some Korean. The show is called Let's Speak Korean. I will share you some of the videos and the others will be on their youtube channel.

Let's Speak Korean Youtube Channel

I recommend you to take some notes, it helps.

I hope this videos will help you learn more Korean. ENJOY!

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[info] Let's learn korean questions?

I just went through all the comments for lesson 9 and all of them says its confusing. If you have any questions please ask me on my Facebook and I will help you explain it. Please tell me which area is confusing so I know what to explain more. If you don't go to my Facebook there is no way I can answer all your questions. I don't always go and read all your comments to every lessons I post.


Since I am busy these days with my personal daily activities, I only go to my facebook and sometimes twitter (not that active in twitter).


If you are having troubles, I strongly recommend that you ask me. Don't be scared to ask questions because if you don't ask then you won't get the answer you need.

Here is my facebook. Add me and ask if you needed.

Add me here (facebook)

thanks!

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[News] Top Korean Diet Promoter Conquers Japanese Bestseller List Once More

Girls, fancy the nice killer abs of your favourite Korean female stars? Good news! It is possible, you can have it too !

Korean Diet Promoter, Jung Da-yeon has published a new diet book last November which now stands at the top in Amazon Japan.

Jung, who launched the ''momjjang'' hot body fad in Korea, had published her first diet book in 2007 which now claimed number two after her second book. This is a feat that no Korean has ever done it before.

In the second title, she writes about the steps and methods she took in order to attain her now chiseled body. She also wrote a thought-provoking phrase that was the most highlighted in the book.

"Over the millions of years of human history, it was only 10,000 years ago that people began eating three square meals a day, Like animals living in the wild, we must eat often in order to stay slim."

She has recently just unveiled her second diet DVD and will soon begin on writing health articles and exercise tips for a health journal.

Jung who has made a name for herself by her expertise on physical training and exercise, was previously a housewife. In 2008, she made her first acting debut as a fitness instructor in the drama ''Aquarius''. She was approached personally by director Kim Soo-ryong to asked to be in his drama as Kim wanted to send useful health information through the drama series and with her fame, she was the only right person to do so.

Check out more about her in the video below.

If she can do it, so can everyone. Well, that goes the same for all the men !

Source: Chosun,com

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Let's Learn Korean!: Lesson 9

Another lesson is here. I can't believe that we are on lesson 9 already. Are you guys having fun learning? I hope you all are.

In this lesson, I will teach some grammar. A lot of you asked me some grammar questions and here is my answer.

Grammar

• To form simple questions, you change the 다(da) in the end of each statement to 까(kka).

• Korean NOUNS have NO articles such as (a, an, the) and NO plural forms whether the noun is singular or plural is judges from the context or by a number of modifying the noun.

• ADJECTIVES are usually placed in FRONT of nouns, as in English.

               

             자 (cha)  means Car

             좋은 자 (chaw-un-cha) meanㄴ A nice car.

• Korean VERB forms DO NOT vary between singular and plural, but change depending on who you are talking to and their status.

              VERBS/LEVELS OF POLITENESS

• Korean has various levels of politeness depending on who you are talking to, for example, when having a drink with a friend, you use a very different style to that. You would use when addressing a meeting or talking to somebody for th first time. The level of politeness is shown principally by the verb ending. Although, English has formal and informal style os speech, it does not have the same all-inclusinve Korean system of verb endings indicating degrees of politeness

               For example,

                          가(ka) means Go =} informal

                          감니다(kam-ni-da) means I go, he/she go, we go, they go [depending on the context. No need to specify who.] =} formal

                                   therefore, you add ㅁ+니+다 to make it formal

안 (an) means no/not is added in front of the verb to indicate negation.

      WORD ORDER

• In Korean the main verb always comes at the end if the sentence. So the sentence literelly reads as "to town am going."

• The order of words in a Korean sentence is different from English. The basic rule is SUBJECT-OBJECT-VERB. Where as in English it is usually SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT. Subordinate clauses, or additional information come last in the sentence.

     For example,

                  [English way] "My wife wore a new dress when she came home."

                  [Korean way] "My wife home came when (and) she wore a new dress."

************

If you have any questions, you can ask me on Facebook

My Facebook

Need to refer back to the old lessons? click here.

Enjoy the lesson!

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[announcement] What's next at Let's Learn Korean?

I will be finishing school in a week's time. Once I'm done with my school works, I will have more time to spend on posting Let's learn Korean articles.

So I need your suggestions or requests guys. I would like you to send me any ideas of what lessons I should teach you, like any Categories (animals). If you have any suggestions just post all you ideas on my Facebook wall and I'll put your ideas on my lists. Make sure that you are giving your ideas in details. Once you tell me what you guys wanted to learn, then I will make some notes on my own before I post it here. Even though I can't guarantee that I can post all your ideas soon, I will try my best to meet your expectations.

If you leave your comments or ideas in this article, there is a chance that I won't see it since I can't go back and forth to checks all your comments all the time.

One more thing, if you have any questions regarding from the past lessons. Don't hesitate and please ask me on Facebook wall or twitter. I prefer Facebook since you can send long messages there compare to twitter. I will try my best to answer your questions.

My Facebook

My Twitter

I have these two questions that I kept receiving:

HOW DO I LEARN KOREAN?

I self study Korean, I spent a lot of my time learning it and my Korean friends also helps me.

WHAT IS YOUR NATIONALITY?

I am Filipino (full) who moved in Canada.

For the past lessons you can go here

lessons

Thanks and hopefully all of you will participate.

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"Chu Suk" Thanksgiving in Korea!

I'm very sure all of you readers know how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in western Countries, right? But do you know how it is done in Korea?

The Thanksgiving Festival in Korea is called 'Chu Suk' which was known as Hangawi(Harvest Moon Festival) is a major harvest festival celebration celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar. It is celebration which stretches for 3 days and those 3 days are public holidays in Korea.

A Jesasang or a ceremonial table will be prepared on Chu Suk.

It is a feasting time and also time for happiness for Koreans. Food such as Songp'yon(crescent-shaped rice cakes stuffed with sesame seeds, chestnut paste or beans, are a Chu Suk favorite) and also Taro Soup.

Finally, Koreans celebrate by having singing competitions, archery and wrestle to mark the festival and show gratitude to their God.

Source: www.thanksgiving-day.org/celebration-korea.html , www.wikipedia.org

Credits: White-Kiss

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Let's Learn Korean!: Lesson 7

In the past lessons, I have taught you some Korean word and some ways to say your greetings and farewells. In this lesson, I will be teaching you some Common responses that you can use in your daily life.

Common responses.

Take note that most of this are the formal ones.

Can you speak English?- 영어를 하심니까? (yeongoreul hasimnikka?) [yong-oh-rul ha-shim-ni-ka?]

한국어를 할 줄 아세요?(hangukoreul hal jul aseyo) [hang-guk-oh-rul hal-jul-ah-seh-yo]

Yes, a little.- 네, 조금(ne, jokeum) [neh, cho-kum]

네, 좀 함니다(ne, jom hamnida) [neh, chom-ham-ni-da]

oh, yes.- 아! 네(a! ne) [ah! neh]

ofcourse- 당연하지(dangyeonhaji) [dang-yon-ha-ji] informal

물론임니다(mullonimnida) [mul-lon-im-ni-da]

ofcourse not.- 물론 아님이다(mullon animida) [mul-lon-ah-nim-ee-da]

alright/fine/okay/very well- 줗아요(juhayo) [chu-ah-yo]

괜찮아요(gwaenchanayo) [gwen-cha-nah-yo]

I understand- 이해 함니다(eehae hamnida) [e-heh ham-ni-da]

I don't understand- 난 이해가 안 돼요(nan eehaega an dwaeyo) [nan ee-heh-ga an-dwe-yo]

I'll do it.- 내가 그것을 할 것입니다(naega geugeoteul hal geot imnida) [ne-ga gu-got-ool hal-got-im-ni-da]

I think so.- 그런 것 같아요(geureon geot kattayo) [gu-ron got-gat-ah-yo]

그렇게 생각함니다(geureohke saenggakhamnida) [gu-roh-keh seng-gak-ham-ni-da]

I don't think so.- 그렇게 생각하지 않아요(geureohke saenggakhaji anhayo) [gu-roh-keh seng-gak-ha-ji-an-ah-yo]

Thank you.- 감사함니다(kamsahamnida) [kam-sam-ee-da]

고마워요(komawoyo) [ko-ma-wo-yo]

고맙습니다(komapseupnida) [ko-map-sum-ee-da]

고맙다 (komapta) [ko-map-tah]

Don't mention it/your welcome.- 천만에요(cheonmaneyo) [chon-man-eh-yo]

I'm sorry.- 미안 해요(mian haeyo) [mi-an-eh-yo]

죄송함니다(juisonghamnida) [jui-song-ham-ni-da]

excuse me.- 실려합니다(silryeohapnida) [shil-ryo-ham-ni-da]

pardon me.- 죄송합니다(juisonghamnida) [jui-song-ham-ni-da]

just a moment, please- 잠깐 만요(jamkkanmanyo) [cham-can-man-yo]

잠시 만요(jamsi manyo) [cham-she-man-yo]

do you like it?- 줗아합니까?(juhahamnikka?) [chu-ah-ham-ni-kka?]

no, I don't like it.- 아니, 줗아하지 않아요(anni, juhahaji anhayo) [an-ni, chu-ah-ha-ji-an-ah-yo]

싫어요(sirheoyo) [she-roh-yo]

do you want it?- 원하심니까?(wonhasimnikka?) [won-ha-shim-ni-ka?]

I don't want it.- 원하지 않습니다(wonhaji anhseupnida) [won-ha-ji an-seum-ni-da]

싫어요(sirheoyo) [she-roh-yo]

Never mind- 괜찮아요(gwaenchanayo) [gwen-cha-nah-yo]

are you ready?- 넌 준비 돼나?(neon junbi dwaena?) [non-jun-bi dwe-na?]

not yet.- 아직(ajik) [ah-jik]

let's go- 가자(kaja) [ka-ja]

Note:

• Words with 니다 (ni-da) or 니까 (nikka) in the end are formal
• Words with 요 (yo) are semi-formal
• to make informal words, just take off the 요 (yo) in the end and its already informal.

If you have any questions you can contact me through

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/chrizel.alvarez

or Twitter: @chrizzycrazy

note on facebook:

make sure you are adding the name above NOT the Chrizel Alvarez one.

Thanks and Enjoy

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